Law Firm Case Management Software Support

Law Firm Case Management Software Support – Challenges & Strategies

Law firm case management software is an integral part of day-to-day law office life. Regardless of what applications your firm uses (or plans to use), there are two factors that must always be met:

You need your staff to understand how to use your firm’s case management software

You need your software to work

What happens when the software doesn’t work the way it should? What if it crashes? What if you move to a new software and no one in the office knows much about it? What happens if your staff understands the basics, but gets stuck? Where do you get the help that you need so that your law firm can keep functioning?

The answer: You a need a reliable, defined go-to for law firm case management software support.

Of course, that doesn’t fully answer the question. You know you need help, but where do you actually get it? In this article I’ll talk about your options for law firm case management software support.

Why It’s Not Always Easy to Get the Law Firm Case Management Software Support You Need

It isn’t always easy to get the law firm case management software support you need. One all-too-common scenario we see is:

A law firm suddenly has a problem with the case management software they rely on. That server runs on the firm’s onsite server, so naturally the firm calls their local IT support provider. The IT support team or person evaluates and concludes there must be some problem with the software itself (they can find no problems with the server or network).

Meanwhile, the software company can find no problem with their software or its configuration and conclude that it must be an “environmental” problem (IE: Your server, network or desktop computers). Leaving you, the law firm that just wants to get back to work—stuck in the middle.

We see this all the time.

IT professionals, even great ones, usually aren’t experts in every piece of software; nor can they become experts with your software… after all, they have dozens of clients throughout many different industries, each of which has its own unique software. The company that makes you law firm case management software, similarly, can’t get into the weeds with your network, your server and tell you exactly where the problem might be.

This leads to either inevitable finger-pointing, or simply an “everything looks good on my end” attitude towards your problem from both the software and the IT sides.

What to Do About This

It’s a real dilemma. Fortunately: There are a number of things law firms can do to preempt or solve this problem.

1. Make sure your software is under maintenance.

Most legal case management applications, such as PCLaw, Time Matters, ProLaw, Tabs3, Aderant, TrialWorks and others offer an Annual Maintenance Plan (sometimes called a Support Agreement). Some law firms are tempted, after initially buying their case management software, to not subscribe to the maintenance plan in later years. Avoid this temptation: You’ll need access to the latest updates, new features, bugfixes, and most importantly: support from the software publisher.

2. Make sure you have a legal-savvy IT support team

As I mentioned earlier, even good IT consultants aren’t familiar with every conceivable piece of software that any of their clients may use. Your firm uses a particular legal case management application. Your IT firms other clients use software made for dental offices, insurance agencies, manufacturing plants and accounting firms. They simply can’t deep-dive into every application and become experts.

But a legal-focused IT company or cloud service provider can.

I recommend hiring an IT support team or cloud service provider that exclusively serves law firms. A cloud provider, for instance, that only provides service to other law firms like yours likely trains its staff and builds its platform with law firms and specific legal software in mind.

Better yet, find a cloud service provider or IT consulting firm that’s certified in the software your firm relies on. Most legal software companies offer a certification track, which enables them to become proficient in setting up and supporting their software (and provides you a much-needed litmus test to find the best provider).

Getting Law Firm Case Management Software Support from a Private Cloud

In general, life is better in the cloud.

Cloud computing gives law firms reliability, security, mobility and more. But that doesn’t mean you have to abandon your existing server/desktop-based case management software. A Private Cloud will host your legal software documents, email and more, allowing you to eliminate onsite servers and the headaches that come with them.

The Decision Is Yours

Ultimately, the decision on you get the support you need for your case management software is up to you. You may find that one of these options (or a combination of these options) is your best route. Do your research on each and talk to other lawyers who use the same software to find out how they handle support issues.

If you have questions about law firm case management software support and you’re not sure where to start, give us a call. If we can’t help directly, we’ll connect you with someone who can.

About the Author: Dennis Dimka Dennis Dimka is the CEO and founder of Uptime Legal Systems, North America's leading provider of technology, cloud and marketing services to law firms. Dennis is the author of Law Practice as a Service: How and Why to Move Your Law Firm to the Cloud, and was an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist in 2016. Follow Dennis on LinkedIn.